


I’m sorry I couldn’t protect you...

by pvmpkin



Category: TOMORROW X TOGETHER | TXT (Korea Band)
Genre: Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst and Tragedy, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-02
Updated: 2020-12-02
Packaged: 2021-03-10 02:07:49
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,754
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27796675
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pvmpkin/pseuds/pvmpkin
Summary: “Weeks, months, years pass,And I still miss you.”
Relationships: Huening Kai & Kang Taehyun, Huening Kai/Kang Taehyun
Comments: 2
Kudos: 13





	I’m sorry I couldn’t protect you...

**Author's Note:**

> This was written because I saw Hueningkai’s weverse comment on a moa’s post about among us which said, “I’m sorry I can’t protect you...” and then immediately thought “tyunning angst to comfort kai sees a tragedy to do with taehyun and can’t stop thinking about taehyun” so this is the result.
> 
> For reference, Yeonjun has pink hair, Taehyun has blond hair, Hueningkai has brown hair.
> 
> There will be no particular warnings specified. Anything to do with death, causes of death, blood, injuries, etc, will likely appear in this fic.
> 
> Your only warning.

_The world flipped, over and over, turning on its side at least 4 times before finally landing where Kai, in his dazed, semi-conscious state, assumed was up._

_He couldn’t hear anything._

_He couldn’t remember where he was. He tried to move but found that his limbs wouldn’t move. He couldn’t even open his eyes._

_He sat, slumped, trying to regain some strength, but it took quite a few minutes before he could get his body to work. His movements were sluggish, slow, as he forced his eyes open and tried to process what had happened._

_And then he remembered._

_Taehyun, Yeonjun and Kai himself in a car, driving to meet a friend at his house. Taehyun turning in his seat to talk to him, opening his mouth to speak._

_A figure, darting across the road without looking. Yeonjun, swearing loudly, trying to steer around them, but the car was going too fast._

_The car had lost its traction and hit into the curb, flipping over like it weighed nothing. It had crashed into a building and finally was still._

_Kai didn’t bother to check himself for injuries. He could feel something dripping from his mouth and some part of his mind registered that one of his legs wasn’t moving at all._

_Kai had lost all sense of feeling and fumbling with the seatbelt to try to get out proved difficult. He managed to unplug it, yanking it away, and pulled himself forward through the two front seats to see if the others were okay. Not that he was in any condition to be wondering about other people’s health._

_He checked Yeonjun. The older was fine. The airbag had somewhat eased the impacts and, despite the multicoloured bruises painting his face and a black eye, he looked fine, just unconscious. He turned to Taehyun._

_The short, blond boy was still strapped into his seat but something was wrong._

_The airbag hadn’t deployed._

_“Taehyun?” he whispered. His voice wasn’t working.  
_

_And then Kai saw it._

_A long, wide shard of glass punctured into Taehyun’s chest. Kai’s eyes dragged up to the windscreen - or, where it should’ve been. In its place was a gaping hole, the glass having shattered and fallen out of the frame. The floor was scattered with glass. Clearly a piece had been flung into the car and decided to bury itself into Taehyun’s chest._

_If the airbag had worked then it would’ve saved Taehyun, but it hadn’t._

_Kai was still unfocused and couldn’t think straight but he dimly registered the glass, he registered the patch of red spreading from the wound. And somewhere in the back of his mind, a voice whispered, “He’s dying.”_

_“Taehyun...” Kai cleared his throat, and gasped in a raspy voice, “Taehyun.. please.. please look at me. Taehyunnie..”_

_Kai briefly lost his grip on the seats and fell a little. Winded, and noticing a faint ache in his ribs but not conscious enough to feel any real pain, he pulled himself back up and leaned slightly on Yeonjun’s body for support. He shook Taehyun’s shoulder, and croaked, “Taehyun. Please.. wake up. Look at me.”_

_Taehyun’s eyes flickered slightly and he looked at Kai. His eyes widened slightly when he saw the state Kai was in but Kai didn’t care. He watched as Taehyun’s eyes travelled to the long shard of glass piercing his chest. He put his head back, and rested his head on the seat, squeezing his eyes shut._

_He forced them open again and looked at Kai. “Why doesn’t it hurt?” the blond boy whispered. Kai didn’t answer, he just put his hand out and Taehyun grabbed hold of it._

_“You’re going to be okay. You’ll be okay, Tyunie.”_

_Kai felt hot tears pouring out of his eyes but he barely noticed them; his attention was fully focused on Taehyun, eyes not leaving him for one second. Taehyun’s grip on his hand kept getting weaker by the second._

_For a split second, Taehyun almost let go completely, and Kai gripped his hand so tightly that his knuckles went white._

_“Please don’t let me go, Kai,” Taehyun gasped, the stain on his shirt spreading rapidly._

_Kai felt his throat close. He swallowed, and said in a thick voice, “I won’t, Tyunie. I’ll never let go. I promise.”_

_Taehyun’s doe eyes smiled, and Kai could see that his strength was draining out of him. The glass shard had gone deep into his chest. Taehyun’s eyes started to gloss over._

_“Tyunie, wait, please don’t leave me, don’t go, Taehyun please-” Kai was sobbing now._

_Taehyun smiled weakly at Kai, and whispered those words that he’d always wanted to say._

_“I love you, Huening Kai.”_

_And Kai immediately responded with, “I love you too.”_

_And then Taehyun’s face went slack, eyes wide and blank, and his grip on Kai’s hand disappeared._

_“Taehyun?”_

_The blond boy didn’t respond._

_“Taehyun!” Kai kept yelling the boy’s name, unwilling to accept the cold truth._

_He could hear ambulances and sirens, and sensed someone pulling open_ _the back door with force and gently taking hold of Kai. Kai pulled away, crying, screaming, “Don’t touch me! Get away from me!”_

_He tried to hold onto Taehyun, desperately trying to fulfil his promise, but the hands were strong, and Kai was pulled away from Taehyun, out into the street where the ambulances were. He vaguely noticed how his right leg was limp and looked like it had been snapped in half like a twig. He couldn’t move it at all, it just dragged along the pavement._

_Kai kept screaming Taehyun’s name, the tears dripping off his face, and he could hear loud sirens, but they were faint. It sounded like he was underwater. His vision started to swirl and he collapsed into the person’s arms, taking one last look at Taehyun before his vision went black and the strength seeped from his limbs._

—☆—

“Kai!”

Hands on his arm. Kai flinched away, gasping for air.

“Hey, woah, woah, it’s okay. Calm down, Kai. It’s Yeonjun. You can relax. Breathe.”

Kai’s head snapped to the source of the voice. Through blurry eyes he saw Yeonjun beside him, still tired himself, having only just woken up, awoken by Kai’s nightmare.

Kai was still half in his dream and couldn’t get the image of his beloved Taehyun unresponsive and motionless on the car seat, and there were still tears pouring down his face. He covered his face with his hands, shaking and trying to think of something else, anything but Kang Taehyun.

Yeonjun’s arms wrapped around Kai, and the younger boy folded himself into Yeonjun’s embrace, savouring the warmth of his arms. The older boy drew little hearts on Kai’s arm with his finger, trying to comfort him.

Yeonjun could feel the younger boy shaking and crying in his arms. He held Kai to him a little more firmly, trying to comfort him. He stroked his soft brown hair, twirling it in his fingers.

It took Kai a few minutes to calm down, and when he did he simply rested his head on Yeonjun’s chest, listening to his heartbeat and hugging him tight.

This had happened a lot recently. After Taehyun’s death, Kai hadn’t been the same. The fun, playful exterior was rarely there, he was mainly quiet and would spend hours staring out of the window or even just at a blank wall, running his fingers lightly over the back of his other hand, the hand Taehyun had held in his last minutes.

And of course, the nightmares.

His own injuries hadn’t bothered him. He wasn’t even listening when the doctor told him his multiple injuries - a fractured collarbone, mild concussion, three cracked ribs, and a badly broken leg. He had also bitten his tongue badly and had a black eye but they would heal easily, the doctor said. The injuries were just words, letters read off a sheet of paper, and Kai didn’t care.

He was told that he would have to spend a while in hospital, but that he would heal eventually. Of course the injures hurt - even now, months after, he had a bad limp and a persistent headache.

However there was one injury that hurt more than all the others and that would never heal, and that was the loss of his Taehyun.

There was a constant ache in his heart and everything seemed to remind him of Taehyun.

Yeonjun had always been there for him, though. He’d been incredibly supportive and always by his side, giving him hugs when he needed them or rushing to him when he woke up screaming from a nightmare, like now. He had, in fact, taken to sleeping beside Kai so he could be there straight away when Kai needed him.

Kai was incredibly grateful for his Yeonjun and loved him dearly, but only as a close friend - nothing would replace Taehyun.

“You ok, Ningning?” Yeonjun whispered.

Kai smiled at the nickname. “Yeah. I’m ok, Jjunie.”

Yeonjun felt his heart ache for the younger boy. He knew how much Kai blamed himself for Taehyun’s death. “It should’ve been me, in that seat.” he would say. The older boy also knew that Kai was upset over his broken promise to Taehyun.

_“Please don’t let me go, Kai.”_

_“I won’t, Tyunie. I’ll never let go. I promise.”_

Yeonjun was constantly telling Kai that Taehyun didn’t mean it in a physical way of never letting go of his hand, that he meant it metaphorically - to never forget Taehyun and to cherish his memory - but Kai didn’t believe him. Nothing he said would convince Kai that it wasn’t all his fault.

And, although he’d never admit it, Yeonjun couldn’t deny that it wasn’t just a friendly love for Kai that had settled down and made itself comfortable in his heart.

He knew that he loved Kai in the same way that Kai had loved Taehyun.

But he knew he’d never tell Kai. The younger boy already had too many bad thoughts plaguing his mind and he didn’t want to add another worry by confessing his unreciprocated love for him.

Being with him was enough for Yeonjun, though. Being there to support him was enough to make the older boy happy.

“What are you thinking about?” Kai’s soft voice interrupted his thoughts.

“Nothing. Nothing at all, Hyuka,” Yeonjun said quietly, and Kai laughed, making Yeonjun smile.

“Sure.”

Kai nestled his head into the crook of Yeonjun’s arm, and made himself comfortable.

“Thank you, Yeonjun.”

“No problem.”

They lay locked in eachother’s embrace, and soon fell asleep.


End file.
